


hell's kitchen

by lovelylogans



Series: the sideshire files [13]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Bickering, Domestic Fluff, Family Dinners, M/M, wyliwf!verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24330505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelylogans/pseuds/lovelylogans
Summary: "after a good dinner one can forgive anybody."—oscar wilde,a woman of no importance
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: the sideshire files [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1464067
Comments: 18
Kudos: 107





	hell's kitchen

**Author's Note:**

> anonymous asked: I’d like to request “There was never an us.” for Moxiety, because I never see betrayal-type angst with that ship  
> lovelylogans said: ohhhhh my god. oHHHH my god. okay look when you say “betrayal-type angst” my brain just went NOPE and as such uhhhh here’s this. takes place after “cohabit” in the wyliwf verse.

one of the best parts of living with virgil—other than falling asleep in his arms every night or pressing himself up against virgil’s back, or waking up snuggling him just about every morning, or, like, cuddling on the couch during movie nights, or, like, everything, _everything_ about it—is the fact that he gets to eat virgil-made food _all the time._

it. is. _fantastic._

he has, of course, offered to help in the ways he can, and pointed out that virgil doesn’t have to cook _all_ the time but virgil always waves him off, pointing out that it’s something he loves to do, and cooking for logan and patton means that he gets to branch out from the usual menu at his diner, which means that patton gets to eat a lot of things he’s basically never heard of before but is now an ardent fan of, like scaccia for dinner and ossetian khachapuri for breakfast.

and if he doesn’t feel like it, it means that patton can sub in with his (admittedly much more basic) cooking, like spaghetti or pizza. sometimes, _logan_ cooks, mostly in preparation for college and eventually living on his own, and that’s always fun to watch virgil guide logan through some basic recipes, and if none of them are up to cooking, they’ll order out (usually from al’s pancake world or anywhere _but_ virgil’s, since virgil admits he’s kind of sick of eating his own diner food.)

doing more dishes in exchange for _really_ good food is a more-than-fair trade, in patton’s mind. there are sometimes misses, like when virgil makes ema datshi and the three of them go red in the face from the sheer amount of spice, drinking nearly a gallon of milk between all of them in an effort to kill the fire in their mouths, but those are few and far between. 

so when he comes downstairs to virgil dishing up a bowl of mac and cheese for dinner one night, saying that he’s trying out a new recipe, it’s not _suspicious_ , necessarily, but it is a little tame. patton guesses he’s left the middle-eastern food kick he’s been on for the past couple weeks and wanted to do something relatively low-effort; he _has_ kind of been doing a food world tour for quite a while.

but patton smiles up at him, and kisses him on the cheek, and thanks him for dinner, and then goes to call logan down for dinner, because he’s locked himself up in his room to do intensive research for a story for the _franklin._

by the time logan’s come down, virgil’s setting out bowls of some kind of salad, which like, _fine_ , patton _guesses,_ because one of the other drawbacks (or benefits, his doctor and virgil would probably say benefits) meant that virgil got to serve them a _lot_ more healthy side dishes or main courses than he would have had to in the diner, since they aren’t ordering and paying for their dinner.

“hey, kid,” virgil says. “research going okay?”

logan takes a deep breath, which makes patton tamp down his grin. oh, that means they’re in for a _lecture._

(logan is a fantastic journalist, and he’s going to do great things out there in the world, but patton thinks that maybe, after he wins fifty thousand pulitzers and maybe a nobel prize, logan would make a _great_ teacher. or at least, in the midst of winning fifty thousand pulitzers, patton hopes that he’ll do some guest lectures at a university, or something, telling all the future bright-eyed journalists about his own adventures and how to best chase a story.)

so logan speaks about the various rabbit holes his research has led him down between bites of mac and cheese and salad and sips of water, fielding questions from virgil and patton, at one point getting up and grabbing a notepad to jot down some kind of idea that patton’s question sparked in his head.

logan talks about his day, too, even if it _is_ mostly in the realm of talking about what happened in his _franklin_ class, and virgil talks about his day too (” _taylor,”_ he growls, “is _up to something”_ which makes logan’s ears perk up and jot it down on the notepad, because the pair of them are… well, he _would_ say menaces, if taylor wasn’t so _taylor,_ not that he’d ever say that out loud.) and so does patton, even if his day was mostly dull—really, the most exciting thing was an update on pau-pau, one of michel’s precious dogs.

but it’s a good family dinner. it’s a _nice_ family dinner, the three of them talking and laughing occasionally. it’s good company, good food, and patton is _happy._

at the end of dinner, logan goes back to his room basically as soon as he can, frowning down at his notepad and jotting down more notes even as he’s going up the stairs, and patton laughs a little after him, shaking his head.

“workaholic,” patton says affectionately. 

“well, he didn’t actively start _researching_ during dinner, that’s an improvement over last week,” virgil suggests, and patton snorts, shaking his head, before he retreats back into the kitchen and goes to gather up the bowls.

“dinner was really good,” patton says brightly. “the mac and cheese tasted different, but that’s probably ‘cause it’s not kraft.”

“oh, good,” virgil says, and hands over the cup that patton’s reaching for, before patton even asks. “it’s a new recipe, i was hoping you two would like it.”

patton tilts the empty bowls so that virgil can see, before he moves to start rinsing out dishes to stick them in the dishwasher. “well, it was a big hit.”

“good,” virgil repeats. “i’m glad—um, i used milk, salt and pepper, yellow onion—”

patton hums, to show off interest; virgil likes to talk what goes into each recipe, if patton’s not in the room while he’s cooking. mostly because _virgil_ likes to know what’s in everything he’s eating, but hey, it’s interesting enough to patton too, because virgil’s passionate about cooking.

“—vegetable broth—”

“vegetable broth?” patton repeats, because he thinks that the water rushing over the dishes is distorting his hearing.

“uh-huh,” virgil says. “um, gruyere, parsley on top, _zoodlesandbutternutsquash—”_

patton shuts off the water and turns to face him.

“what was that last part?”

virgil looks abruptly sheepish.

“…zucchini noodles and butternut squash,” he says.

patton gapes at him.

“i mean, you _liked_ it,” virgil points out, fumbling over his words. “so now whenever i serve it, i know you can’t use the excuse of _not_ having liked it—”

“you,” patton says, “snuck me a _healthy dinner._ in _mac and cheese.”_

“you liked it!” virgil says defensively.

“you _betrayed me_. in my own house!” patton declares, mostly joking but also a little affronted.

“ _our_ own house,” virgil says, and patton’s lips twitch up, because virgil’s using his sentimentality against him, that _jerk_ who cares deeply for patton’s health!!!!

“ **there was never an us,”** patton says dramatically. 

“they’re _zoodles!”_

“a funny name won’t save you now,” patton says, haughty. “this settles it.”

“settles _what?”_ virgil says.

“i will _accept,”_ patton says, “ice cream from lucy’s as a gesture of apology.”

virgil throws back his head, laughing, and patton traces the long column of his throat with his eyes. virgil reaches over to swat patton with a dish towel. “i thought you were actually mad!”

“not _mad,”_ patton says. “ _annoyed,_ maybe, and just a little. it’s _mac and cheese,_ virgil, you already had a side salad!”

“eating healthy isn’t gonna _kill_ you,” virgil says. “the _opposite,_ really.”

“you’re impossible,” patton says, which would probably be more convincing if he wasn’t smiling.

virgil grins back, leaning down to press a kiss to patton’s upturned lips. “i love you very much.”

“ _impossible,”_ patton sighs up at him. “how am i supposed to be annoyed at you for being thoughtful about my vitamin intake and taking an active concern in my health because you generally care for my welfare, _and_ you’re so cute at the same time?”

“it’s a talent,” virgil says smugly, and patton snorts a little, before thwacking him with the same dish towel.

“ _go,”_ he says, a laugh still around the edges of his voice. “i have chores to do.”

“if you say so,” virgil says, disappearing around the corner, and patton hesitates before he turns, just a little.

“i wasn’t kidding about the lucy’s!” patton calls after him, still smiling despite himself, and turns back to the dishes.

even if the dish itself was full of betrayal—and he won’t admit this—the mac and cheese _was_ pretty good.

**Author's Note:**

> thank to @teacupfulofstarshine for the “funny names will not save you” line, and also the title! she also wrote a _fantastic, amazing, INCREDIBLE_ wyliwf!verse fic for my birthday!!! [go give it a read!!!!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24058189)


End file.
